Sunday, April 21, 2013

Spring Things...


We had to spend the last week of March at UCSF...bless those who cared for our creatures, and the Animal Angels too.  It took them ALL to contain this wild bunch. Jasmine stayed with friends because I was just too worried about her.  She's never met a stranger.  What was supposed to be 4 days turned into 7, with all heck breaking loose about day 5. Although we lost 2 laying hens and 2 roosters, somehow Mama Hen (she's one serious bad-ass!) and her 2 babies survived.  Somehow, a litter of kittens hatched in the hen house too...the renegade Siamese mama.  She won't have her kittens too far away, but not too close-in either.  Blanca didn't wait for us to get home either; she had her babies in the hay. 

Last weekend, we drove to Reno, NV and reunited Luci-dog with her mama. This week, it snowed up there.  Go figure.  Such is Spring in the North State (CA).  Now, it's back up into the 80's and will hit the 90's mid-week.  I laugh at people who call the quiet rains of late February and March "winter."  That is our Spring.  There are a few weeks of coolish weather with some rain and fog...then some big wind, and the next thing you know, it feels like summer.  Personally, I'm hoping for a good stretch of 70's-80's before we jump into the 90+ temps.  I'm not a heat-lover.  I'm too moderate!

Today was a good day for shedding horses.  We're really dragging shedding out a long time this year.  Both girls still have fuzzy spots that haven't given up yet.  A few days of 80°+ and that will end.  The ladies decided they needed an early morning romp...  Bruce didn't get the gate latched well enough last night and they went into the neighbor's 4+ acre fenced lot.  As we were heading up to catch them, a Horse Angel stopped and gave us a hand.  She parked in the driveway to keep the horses from running out into the street, and walked up the drive with us to be a 3rd catcher.  What a sweetheart!  Regardless of their early morning escapade, I still wanted to get them well-curried before a new week took over.  Somehow, I'm always down-wind and get a nose-full of dust and horse hair.  Shasta is a brat.  She is very food motivated.  We were able to catch her first...cookies....cookies...  No one gets cookies during grooming...and grooming is at full liberty.  Shasta couldn't stand that Willow was getting all the attention AND there were no cookies coming her way.  No one got cookies until I was completely finished, and packed up.  Then we had cookies. *Ü*  I know..."Mean Mama," right?